


Turn of Phrase

by Miss_Bloo



Series: Novel Au [1]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, M/M, Novel AU, Transmigration, alternate title: Goro Akechi's self saving system, no powers no persona, tags will be added as we progress the story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2019-08-02
Packaged: 2020-07-29 14:43:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20083930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_Bloo/pseuds/Miss_Bloo
Summary: “I’m going to find the author and murder them!!” Goro Akechi muttered furiously.





	Turn of Phrase

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tayani](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tayani/gifts), [Hewillneverbesatisfied](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hewillneverbesatisfied/gifts).

_ “Your Justice ends here Joker!” _

_ The masked criminal merely crooked a grin towards the detective, his gloved thieving hands raised mockingly in the air. “You’ve caught me, detective. What now? Will you lock me up behind bars again? Maybe you’ll even keep me in for a full night this time if you frisk me a little more thoroughly.” _

_ Hiro Hidemori furrowed his brows in annoyance at Joker’s derisive, cocky tone, but most frustrating to the Great Detective was that the felon was correct. Joker could escape any prison, any shackle and any person before the day broke the night. _

_ Sensing the detective’s uncertainty, Joker lowered his arms, his figure surrounded by the moon’s ever-present body as he swung on one foot, preparing himself once again to perform a treacherous leap down from the rooftop, more than a hundred feet tall, and with the confidence of a man who has done such similar feats a hundred times before- _

_ The moon would forever be the silent witness, as she watched the fall of the great phantom Thief Joker under the echoing shot of a bullet. _

_ -_ The Final Chapter, The Great Detective Hiro Hidemori and the Fiend of Many Faces 

_ -0-0-0-0- _

“I’m going to find the author and murder them!!” Goro Akechi muttered furiously to himself from where he sat alone in a corner booth. The cafe where he currently occupied himself was peaceful in its muted tones, with soft radio music filling the gaps in-between conversation by its other customers. A soft tinkle of a bell hung above the entrance would welcome or depart a patron, whilst the delicious aroma of coffee would entice those passing by outside its walls. It was a common gathering place for students in need of a quiet place to rest or study without the suffocating silence of a library or dorm room. However, the soothing atmosphere could not quell the rage that Goro felt whenever he read this shitty book!

A book he had reread more than a dozen times since its release when he was a hormonal pre-teen suffering through puberty like the rest of his fellow classmates at the time. The spine was wrinkled in bends, and its pages faded and dog eared from multiple readings. Despite his words, the book was well cared for considering its age and how tightly he gripped it at certain passages. As he has grown up, he had fallen out with the protagonist of the story. Hiro Hidemori had been everything Goro Akechi had wanted to be as an orphaned child, passed around relatives like a hot potato. Hiro Hidemori had been orphaned and grew up without a loving family at his side, yet achieved recognition from adults for his intelligence and witty retorts. From solving mysteries even the police couldn’t solve as a student, he quickly gained a name as the youngest detective, foiling crimes and capers of all those who opposed him. Goro, age 10, had followed the detective and his various adventures with a terrible, aching hunger. 

Goro, age 16, learned Hiro Hidemori was not what he had thought him to be. Upon rereading the novel serial again, as well as the newer publications, he learned what a younger Goro Akechi had missed in his haste to reach the ending. Hiro Hidemori had a grand fortune waiting for him and did not live in a noisy, cluttered dorm room living off of instant and microwave meals. Hiro Hidemori was popular in a way that did not make his own skin crawl with the people he associated with on his own free will. Hiro Hidemori was_ loved _ and wanted and not disdained by his coworkers, and those who did usually were found to be corrupt and would be subsequently arrested by the protagonist himself. 

Goro, now aged 22, discovered Hiro Hidemori was quite frankly, an appalling detective. He also subsequently learned of the dangers of following a career path in reality that was inspired by a work of fiction. Either the author didn’t know about the copious amount of paperwork, or the protagonist left that for the poor office gopher. Even if the novel was set in an earlier era, paperwork was unfortunately not a modern invention.

Goro Akechi let himself sag back into his chair, rubbing the bridge of his nose between his eyebrows. Despite all of his misgivings, there was one redeeming feature besides a spoiled nostalgia. ‘The Fiend of Many Faces’ introduced a charming, interesting character that consistently outwitted the protagonist, and escaped any method of capture the protagonist tried to employ. He was also arguably not quite an ‘antagonist’ despite the novel’s title, but instead a rival that pushed the protagonist. Unfortunately, he pushed too much. As a result, Hidemori firmly cemented himself on Goro Akechi’s ‘shit list’ when he shot Joker, and the author joined his creation when they never released the promised sequel to the book, leaving the thief’s fate uncertain.

Sighing with mental exhaustion, Goro sat up as he began to pack up his belongings. The day was quickly fading, and although a student, he was unlike his classmates at the Metropolitan Police Academy who thrived in the Tokyo nightlife scene. Even the most studious and serious of his fellows had friends who would drag them out to unwind at least one night a week. That suited Goro just fine as he would manage to gain some hours of sleep before inevitably being woken up by the returning tipsy and loud party of youths. Goro didn’t envy them, he had long passed the age where he desired companionship with a deep ache, especially if it meant choosing between social life and his future career path. Although he now understood _ ‘The Great Detective Hidemori Hiro _’ was not exactly a prime example of legitimate detective work, he still strived to become someone who could defend those helpless against the corrupt and depraved.

Goro Akechi would not become fraudulent like the rotten in positions of power.

The cafe bell chimed as he left through its doors and out into the day’s dimming light. The temperature was mild although the bitter chill would inevitably seep in once the sun bid farewell to the east. Goro’s feet moved without much thought, having walked this path and through these streets in Tokyo many times before. Most early mornings he would jog through a street until he was familiar with it before moving to a new unfamiliar area. It would be advantageous once he had to chase after criminals or plot out crime scenes in the future, but for now, it was merely a good morning jogging routine.

School kids wandered in boisterous groups, laughing and bickering with their friends as they walked under the burgeoning neon lights that lit the streets, Tokyo Tower still but a dull light, waiting for the fall of night’s curtain. The scent of cooking meats and poured alcohol wafted through open doors, and Goro felt his stomach tighten painfully as salvia unconsciously filled his mouth. The muffin he bought from the cafe had been woefully forgotten amidst his rage towards the novel, and by the time he was aware it had been decimated. It had also been his ‘lunch’, like how a single apple had been picked up for breakfast before his first lecture. He should probably stop by a convenience store and pick up a quick meal, any instant meals purchased and left in the refrigerator would inevitably wind up in the stomach of either a drunk or mindless flatmate. Plus, he didn’t have to spend time in the shared kitchen, using a microwave on its last legs, encrusted with stains from aeons past that would cook and smoke inside. As much as he would like to stop by a restaurant or stall to eat before returning to his bed, his allowance for this month was already stretched tight.

With that in mind, Goro took a right turn into an alleyway, which from a previous jog he learned would take him out into another street with a convenience store closeby. Although much darker than what he previously remembered from his morning run, he was confident in his directional sense and memory. And should the worst occur and he encountered someone of the unsavoury sort, he was assured in his ability to either successfully defend himself and subdue his attacker, or to even run away (although he had a great sense of pride, he preferred his life and health over a brief bruised self-esteem).

Unbeknownst to Goro, shortly after he entered the alleyway, a malicious grin spread across the faces of two men who loitered closeby. With a quick murmur into a phone, three men waiting at the alleyway’s other end made an affirmative response, before they swaggered into the enclosed, dark space. Five men in total, all rough features and abhorrent expressions, walked in a leisurely pace on either end, detestable laughter hidden behind wide grins. One slipped on bloodied brass knuckles, another swung a bat over his shoulder whilst one more flipped a blade that gleamed in what little light reached him. As they heard footsteps, an excited, bloodthirsty gleam entered their eyes, however, once they met the middle of the alley, they did not see a well dressed young man. Instead, before them were the other two accomplices that had called them in advance of their next casualty for profit. Alarmed, they looked around. The alleyway was empty, void of their chosen victim. They had somehow lost one man in an alley with only two exists, both of which they had blocked off. The bitter night chill finally swept through.

Meanwhile, Goro Akechi began to doubt his memory. The alleyway he had been so certain was a shortcut extended farther than what he remembered. A strange feeling washed over him as if he had walked through a dense fog. Goosebumps crawled along his arms as he desperately tried to keep himself together.

“No matter,'' He murmured to himself. Flipping out his phone, he frowned when it looked as though his connection seemed to have completely disappeared. Perhaps this alley was a dead zone? His phone location had also wiped itself clean. “How odd… I'll look for the tower once I’m outside and find my positioning”. 

However, just as he once again saw the light on the other end, an echo of rushed steps came from opposite him. It sounded as if someone was running? And true to his thought, a man sprinted towards him, clutching a bag stuffed full to his chest. Shouts reverberated behind the man, and before Goro could make sense of the situation in its entirety, the individual’s eyes widened upon seeing Goro, and with a sudden motion, the bag was abruptly flung at Goro, startling him into a stagger. The unknown man, however, continued to run past him before escaping out the other end of the alley which was, now that Goro looked back, was far shorter than the walk it took him to reach this point. Utterly baffled as he tried to make sense of this knowledge, two men in suits passed by Goro in pursuit, however, a harsh voice bellowed next to his ear. And suddenly, Goro was face to face with a harsh expression belonging to a man with a pencil moustache, furrowed eyebrows and flushed skin. He looked at Goro as if his existence personally offended him, and before he could question the stern man, handcuffs were suddenly around his wrists, enclosing with a resounding ‘click’, the bag that had been flung at him now in the arms of another suited man.

He was then dragged out into the open where a car old in model sat waiting in the street. The opposing windows of the buildings that sat in witness were all dark, although eyes gleamed from top floor apartments. The night sky was filled with stars, and no tall red tower was to be seen in any direction. 

“What is happening?” Goro asked out loud to himself in utter confusion. A cold sweat doused him, his knees felt weak and his mind foggy. The stern adult who was manhandling him replied.

“You are under arrest!”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading the pilot chapter of novel au! Depending on the response we shall see what happens to Goro Akechi. My friends Nate, Hina and Tayani were the ones who indulged me when I first brought the idea to them, and finally, it is being put into a formal story structure.


End file.
